While I still remember, I harvested garlic last weekend. 860g of it, from my front yard. Not too bad, considering the impoverished nature of the soil in which I sowed it.
I did plant something like a hundred cloves, not all of which survived. I've set aside the biggest bulbs for seed stock.
May I ask what you do with garlic when you plant it? I planted mine under and around some of the roses in the front yard, because I had space there, and supposedly it helps with aphid repelling. Watered them whenI put them in, because the ground was bone dry, and thereafter left them alone over winter, until most of them had died down. The stock I used was some seed stock from last year, and some I'd bought from an organic store (so I knew it hadn't been sprayed with anything to retard sprouting).
Nah, all we've ever done is what I used to do back home: "Oh, these cloves have sprouted - might as well put them in the herb bed..." Only back home, that always worked. I doubt I'll ever get used to growing stuff down here, where one actually has to work at it :-S
In truth, I'm sick to the back teeth of having to deal with gardens these days. It's no fun here. Everything is so dry and so unencouraging...if I had my way, we'd pave over the rest of the garden apart from the chicken run and turn it into a thing of beauty, or at least a thing of less ugliness. Himself loves having a veg garden, but he's not the one who has to do the upkeep. And our back garden is just an unlovely barely-4m-wide strip that runs the length of our (small, as you'll recall) house...
Yeah, the lack of water is a really really big issue when it comes to gardening here. Ditto the lack of some nutrients in the soil. I plant the garlic so it grows over winter, because I can't be bothered watering it. I've never had any luck whatsoever growing garlic where cloves I'm planting weren't grown in Australia originally (vast majority of garlic one can buy in Australia is imported, and therefore treated to reduce the risk of various nasties) - and little luck growing ones that weren't grown locally.
Yep, most of our bought garlic comes from the local Chinese grocers. Himself's Italian aunts and uncles manage to grow good garlic though, and my friend cemsleuth, who lives about 35km NW of Geelong in an almost permanent rainshadow manages to grow tiny but very tasty garlic every year.
Oh well, our blueberry bush is producing well, the jalapeños are in blossom again, and though the asparagus corms are immature (we're only getting wire-thin spears ATM) they seem healthy and should produce well next year. At least we're no longer going through the heartbreak of disappointing capsicums, eggplants the size of a thumbnail, pumpkins that never quite deliver...gah, I'll stick with the local market :-(
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You've harvested the garlic in the front yard.
That means it's safe to come over finally... <grin>
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May I ask what you do with garlic when you plant it? I planted mine under and around some of the roses in the front yard, because I had space there, and supposedly it helps with aphid repelling. Watered them whenI put them in, because the ground was bone dry, and thereafter left them alone over winter, until most of them had died down. The stock I used was some seed stock from last year, and some I'd bought from an organic store (so I knew it hadn't been sprayed with anything to retard sprouting).
From:
no subject
From:
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In truth, I'm sick to the back teeth of having to deal with gardens these days. It's no fun here. Everything is so dry and so unencouraging...if I had my way, we'd pave over the rest of the garden apart from the chicken run and turn it into a thing of beauty, or at least a thing of less ugliness. Himself loves having a veg garden, but he's not the one who has to do the upkeep. And our back garden is just an unlovely barely-4m-wide strip that runs the length of our (small, as you'll recall) house...
From:
no subject
From:
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Oh well, our blueberry bush is producing well, the jalapeños are in blossom again, and though the asparagus corms are immature (we're only getting wire-thin spears ATM) they seem healthy and should produce well next year. At least we're no longer going through the heartbreak of disappointing capsicums, eggplants the size of a thumbnail, pumpkins that never quite deliver...gah, I'll stick with the local market :-(